Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Musical at Hart House Theatre

There is so much opportunity to watch live theatre in Toronto, ranging from the big name shows put on by Mirvish and Dancap, to slightly smaller professional companies such as SoulPepper and Canadian Stage Company, to community theatres like Etobicoke Musical Productions and Curtain Call Players.

Recently we stumbled upon the Hart House Theatre, run by the University of Toronto. They were performing the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, based on the 1988 comedy starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin as a pair of con men in the French Riviera who prey on wealthy women looking for excitement and adventure.

Lawrence is the more experienced, debonaire con artist who pretends to be an exiled foreign prince trying to raise money for a revolution to reclaim his throne. He has the cooperation of a French police inspector named Andre who takes a cut of each scam. Freddy is a small time con who has recently arrived in town and initially looks up to Lawrence as a mentor, but eventually enters into competition with him, with the loser vowing to leave town. Their target is an American heiress named Janet and the competition is to determine which one can first get her to give them $50,000. When they later discover that Janet is not actually an heiress, they change the bet to whether or not Freddy can get her to sleep with him.

The 2005 musical version follows the plot of the movie quite faithfully, but adds some extra scenes and songs for Andre and his developing relationship with Muriel, one of Lawrence's early marks. The appropriately titled first song is a slick jazzy number that quickly establishes Lawrence's style and sophistication, and why he is so successful at his scam, since he is just
"Giving Them What They Want". The women follow with a mock tragic, but actually extremely funny lament about their encounters with the "prince". In "What Was A Woman To Do", they describe him as "Magically long of lash; Tragically short of cash". The theatrical fourth wall is broken when one of the female "ushers" joins in on the song from the audience.

Freddy's first big number is a hilarious rap/rant called "Great Big Stuff" where he rapidly rhymes off all the things he could do if he made as much money as Lawrence. He ends the song with the plea "I just want someone to love me .... for my money!!!".

Freddy's scheme to scam the money from Janet is to pretend to be a pyschosomatically traumatized war veteran who needs therapy to be cured. At one point, Freddy and Janet decide that what he actually needs is love, and they sing the purposely corny and schmaltzy duet "Love is My Legs" which mocks the traditional big ballad love song found in typical romantic musicals.

In my opinion, dramatic musicals rely heavily on the music and orchestrations to set the mood, while a good comedy's success lies primarily in its lyrics. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has witty lyrics that advance the plot and make you laugh out loud as you hear them.

Herein lies the problem with the Hart House Theatre. The acoustics were not the best so we strained to distinguish the words being sung. That many of the characters were speaking with various European accents exasperated the issue. In spite of this, the show was so much fun to watch and the leads were very strong actors with good singing voices.

It was great to see a relatively new musical playing in Toronto and again I feel blessed to live in a city that provides so many opportunities to see different shows. I recently found out that the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is actually a remake of a 1964 David Niven/Marlon Brando/Shirley Jones movie called Bedtime Story. I found a store that rents this movie so I hope to check it out soon.

Trigger and Luma Dinner at Bell Lightbox

Went to a special members only screening of the Canadian movie Trigger at the Bell Lightbox. Molly Parker and the late Tracy Wright play the members of a rock band named Trigger, who broke up acrimoniously and now have reunited for the first time after ten years. Each has her demons, one with alcohol abuse and the other with drugs. The movie depicts their running conversation through the evening while they explore their past and current relationship with each other.

This movie seemed all the more poignant in light of the fact that Tracy Wright was dying of pancreatic cancer while making this film. Her heartfelt monologues about illness and death take on an extra meaning, and makes you wonder what she was feeling as she was delivering those lines. Her real life husband made a cameo in the movie, which was filmed in a rush (9 days over 5 weeks) and serves as a final tribute to this brave actress. Tracy Wright died several months before the movie was released.

Filmed in Toronto, the movie features some recognizable locations including the upscale restaurant Canoe, Allen Gardens Greenhouse (which was also used in Atom Egoyan's Chloe), a school in Etobicoke, and a park near the DVP. I always get a bit of nerdish pleasure in trying to spot the Toronto landmarks while watching a movie.

Following the movie, we dined at Luma and tried the Tim Burton themed Creature Comforts menu. One companion and I had the Alice in Wonderland Magic Mushroom Lasagna, while the other had the "Big Fish" meal, which was seared tuna on salad. No one was brave enough to try the Mrs Lovett's Meat Pie of the day, in case it contained the Sweeney Todd special ingredient! We ended with the Willy Wonka inspired dessert, consisting of a dark chocolate truffle cake, topped with peanut butter ice cream, caramelized bananas, candied nuts and a cocoa tuile cookie. It was as delicious as it was beautiful.

Wingfield Lost and Found

The Wingfield series of plays are about the trials and tribulations of Bay Street stockbroker Walt Wingfield, who decides to quit his job and start a hobby farm in the fictional Ontario township of Persephone. Each play is structured as a set of anecdotes told through letters from Walt which the editor of the local newspaper reads aloud. Each story starts with "Dear Ed..." and ends with "Yours sincerely, Walt".

As a one man show, the talented Rod Beattie plays Walt as well as all the wacky characters that interact with him. Without the use of props or costumes other than the odd hat, he flows seamlessly from character to character, each one with a distinctive voice, tone, vocabulary, mannerisms, posture and facial expressions. In addition to the newspaper editor Ed, some of the recurring characters include Walt's wife Maggie, her stuttering fool of a brother Freddie and his even more idiotic nephews Wilie and Dave. These three characters are the instigators of most of the hilarious antics in Walt's life.

The earlier plays document Walt's journey in learning to farm, marrying a neighbouring farm girl, and having a baby. Wingfield Lost and Found is the 7th play in the series and centres around the themes of climate change and global warming. I found the first story the funniest - it involved Willie and Dave trying to help round up Walt's run-away cattle, using cellphones to text their statuses. There is much spoofing of the texting lingo (e.g. ICM = "I See 'em", GGGG=Geez, FIFO=Frigging Idiot Fell Off"), made all the amusing when Freddy explains them with his stutter. Further stories talk about the long drought that is causing the crops to die, and the sudden loss of water in the family well. Walt tries to find a "water witch" to help find the path of the underwater spring to determine where to drill a hole for a new well. This concept was totally foreign to me, but it turns out that the father of the friend who we watched the play with is actually a water witch!

The Wingfield plays are always good fun, but so totally dependent upon its star that I suspect the plays would just stop being performed if he ever decided to quit. I've often wondered which of the voices most closely reflects that of actor Ron Beattie. I'm suspecting it is the Walt voice, since that seems the least caricaturish.

Goodbye and Thank You to Sgt. Ryan Russell

What a heart wrenching, yet heart warming sight it was to watch the endless sea of policemen, firefighters and EMT workers march solemnly in solidarity yesterday, in tribute to their fallen comrade Ryan Russell. Many of us held back tears as we watched from our office tower up above. I went downstairs to join the crowd on the street just in time to see the hearse go by, as bag pipes played and the officers saluted. Before that, there was an eerie silence on the street, broken only by what sounded like mournful cries from the police dogs, as if they knew what was happening.

It was nice to see the people of Toronto finally showing the support which our police force so richly deserve. After all the hype and bad press from the G20 summit, an occurrence like this puts it all into perspective. We are reminded that these men and women put their lives on the line to protect us every day. It's too late for us to show our gratitude to Ryan Russell, but hopefully we learned not to take his colleagues and compatriots for granted.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Stephen Sondheim is not for everyone. His melodies stray heavily into the minor key and occasionally include some ear piercing chords (Sweeney Todd) and some of the plotlines of his shows are quite unusual (Assassins, Into the Woods), not your standard "Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy Wins Girl Back" formulatic fare. His lyrics are more complex than the typical "Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plane" rhyming couplets of past musicals, and it is here where he especially excels, conveying intelligence, wit and depth. Consider a verse of the opening song "Now" from "A Little Night Music" (one of my favourite Sondheim shows). Frederick, a middle aged man is considering making romantic advances towards his new and significantly younger bride:

"Now, as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap,
Now, there are two possibilities: A, I could ravish her, B, I could nap."

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, currently playing at the Canon Theatre is a one of his earlier (1962) musicals. It is a comedy set in Roman times with a story so complicated that a flowchart might be needed to keep track of all the characters and interweaving plotlines. Described in the simpliest terms, the main plot involves the slave Pseudolus trying to win his freedom through numerous schemas and manipulations. It has all the elements of a farce including improbably, exaggerated situations, many quick entries and exits but the characters from all sides of the stage, mistaken identities, and slapstick, almost vaudevillian-like sight gags that make you roar with laughter.

This particular production originated as part of the past Stratford season and has two stars, Sean Cullen and Bruce Dow, playing the lead character of Pseudolus on alternate days. Bruce Dow was in the part on the day we saw the show, which I'm guessing would be a better choice since he is mainly a theatre performer whereas Sean Cullen is primarily a comic. Not having seen Sean Cullen, this is merely a guess. At any rate, Bruce Dow was excellent in the role and dominated the stage with his presense and spot-on comedic timing. Our only regret was not having closer seats to better see his hilarious facial expressions and guestures.

The opening number, "Comedy Tonight" was whipped up by Sondheim at the last minute when he was asked to add a song to prepare the audience for what was to come. This immediately became the most popular and well-known number of the show. Sondheim really is a genuis!

"Something aesthetic,
Something frenetic,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!

Old situations,
New complications,
Nothing portentous or polite;
Tragedy tomorrow,
Comedy tonight!"

Tim Burton Exhibit at Bell Lightbox

My first impression while viewing the Tim Burton exhibit at Bell Lightbox was that he must have been one strange kid, akin to the Addams Family. Right from the start, he seemed fascinated with monsters, creatures, blood, gore and the macabre. His drawing styles and subjects have not changed that significantly over the years. One would assume that Halloween must be his favourite day of the year, and indeed he does celebrate it with a series of drawings, mostly showing monsters dressing up to be more like regular humans. One wonders whether he feels more affinity with the monsters or the humans.

The exhibit acts as a retrospective of Burton's career with sketches, sculptures and memorabilia from his many films. Some items of note included Sweeney Todd's razor blades, Edward Scissorhands costume and topiary, Catwoman outfit, Batman masks, The Peguin's baby carriage, Ed Wood's angora sweater, and the Pumpkin Scarecrow from Sleepy Hollow.

Models of his animated characters were on display including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride and Nightmare Before Christmas. Only Tim Burton could make Santa Claus look creepy!

While it was interesting seeing the artifacts from his famous movies, what I found even more so was to see his work as a young man. An entire section was devoted to his early years growing up in Burbank, California. Displayed was his "Crush Litter" slogan which won him an anti-litter competition in his teens, his first attempt at a children's book called "The Giant Zlig" and many early sketches and drawings, including his studies of Men, Women, and Couples.

A reoccurring theme in much of his work involves the outcast or misunderstood misfit, be it poor Edward with his scissors as hands, Stainboy, Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys, Sweeney Todd, Ed Wood .. the list goes on and on.

One of the first animated shorts that he wrote and directed (but did not animate) was called Victor Malloy. Playing on a continuous loop at the start of the exhibit, the film perfectly reflected my imagination of what Tim Burton's childhood could have been like. The film is about a 7-year old who thinks he is Vincent Price and spends his time alone in the dark performing experiments and reading Edgar Allan Poe. Some how he actually Vincent Price himself to narrate the film, which must have been a great thrill for him.

There were cartoons with funny captions where he played on common sayings but added his own bizzare, yet humourous twists. Imagine the caption "Mental Floss" with a creature pulling floss through his head out either sides of his ears, or "Holding hands" where two monstrous lovers with multiple tentacles are holding onto decapitated hands, or this cartoon of "Seeing Eye Dogs".

Tim Burton even wrote poetry in his early days, which further highlighted his strange sense of humour. Titles included as "My Girlfriend Is a Statue", and my personal favourite, "Robot Boy" for which he also made drawings and sculptures. The poem describes Mr. and Mrs. Smith, who start to realize there is something with their new "baby"...

"You see, there still is some question
about the child's gender,
but we think that its father
is a microwave blender."
...

"And Robot Boy grew
to be a young man.
Though he was often mistaken
for a garbage can."

The exhibit, which had an enormously successful run at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, does a good job at showcasing the talent, creativity and accomplishments of Tim Burton.

Bell Lightbox - Lawrence of Arabia

The Bell Lightbox has been showing all the films which it named as Essential Cinema Top 100 films of all time.

Number 22 is the Academy Award winning movie Lawrence of Arabia, depicting British army officer Thomas Elliot Lawrence's efforts to lead an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks during World War II.

Lawrence of Arabia is one of those epic movies that needs to be watched on a large screen. Shown in it's original 70mm print, the movie featured breathtaking cinematography, including prolonged shots showing both the beauty and isolation of the desert. From a sociological point of view, it is interesting to see how 50 years ago movie audiences could appreciate shots that lasted for minutes, compared to the quick jump-cut action of today's features. Peter O'Toole, in his first major film role looks alot like the real T.E. Lawrence (as shown on Wikipedia).

The movie was over 3.5 hours long and was shown with a brief intermission half way through, to provide a bathroom and refreshment break. This was good thinking, since the theatres at the Bell Lightbox are designed to maximize audience capacity, with unusually narrow seats and no centre aisle. Each row contained about 40-50 seats and it would have caused quite the disturbance to try to get out of the theatre if you were trapped in the middle of one of these rows.

AGO - Maharaja Exhibit

The Art Gallery of Ontario is hoping that their new exhibit Maharajah: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts will be the next blockbuster to follow the great success of their King Tut exhibit from last year. An article I read in the Globe and Mail indicated that the AGO needed big showstoppers in order to make a profit. I had my doubts about how successful they would be when I read this, since it will be difficult to find continuously find shows with as much universal appeal as Tut seemed to generate. My visit to the AGO on December 30, which coincidentally was the exact same date the previous year that I went to see King Tut, seemed to prove that fact. Last year, timed tickets were required for Tut and when we arrived, there were lineups and huge crowds waiting to get in. Despite having the timed tickets, it was so packed that we had a hard time getting near the artifacts. This year for Maharajah, the lack of lineups and crowds were sadly and immediately apparent. Even the offer of allowing free entry to any visitor 25 and under (an attempt to introduce younger audiences to the AGO?) has not seemed to help.

This is really too bad since the Maharajah exhibit includes some spectacular pieces that are really worth seeing. The highlight is the beautiful saffron-coloured Rolls Royce nicknamed "The Star of India" which originally belonged to a Maharaja of Rajkot in 1934. Since then it has changed hands several times and has been ridden in by the British royalty. Recently it has been repurchased by the original Maharaja family and will be returning home to India after the exhibit.

Also of note is a stunning Fort Coach Company 1915 silver carriage with painted engravings of birds and flowers, carvings of bull dogs and ducks, and the Maharaja's coat of arms.

My personal favourites were the Art Deco furniture including a lovely library chair that had built in lights and ashtray on the arm, and a magnificent desk with built in lamp, desktop pen set, attached metal waste basket. Rich liked the Reverso watches where the watch-face could be flipped around so that cricket players could protect them from being scratched while playing their sport... we wondered why they just didn't take off the watches?

Theatre: Parade - Musical at Berkeley Theatre Upstairs

What better thing to do on New Year's Eve than watch a musical based on the true story about the lynching of a man falsely accused of murder? If you love musicals as much as I do, then this is actually the perfect way to ring in the new year!

We watched the musical Parade, which depicts the sensationalized murder trial of a Jewish factory superintendent in 1913 Atlanta Georgia. Originally a northerner from New York who moved to the U.S. south after his marriage, Leo Frank is railroaded in a kangaroo court for the murder of 13 year old Mary Phagan who worked in his factory. Spurred on by prejudices against both his Jewish heritage and his northern roots, the southern jury convicted him based on flimsy circumstantial evidence. This included false witness testimony that was coerced by a politically motivated district attorney who was anxious to wrap up the case. Upon later appeals, Leo's death penalty was changed to life in prision pending a retrial. Tragically before this could happen Leo was kidnapped from his jail and lynched.

The songs ranged from patriotic anthems to emotional ballads to sassy rhythm and blues melodies. Most of the songs advanced the story with their lyrics, including the testimonies at the trial. For me, this is what a good musical is all about - where exposition is provided through song and verse. My favourite songs included "Factory Girls", a haunting song where Mary's coworkers falsely accused Leo of making inappropriate advances towards them, juxtapositioned against "Come to My Office", a fantasy of song describing the girls' imaginations of what a lecherous Leo said to them.

The star of the show, playing Leo Frank, was Michael Therriault who was featured in several Mirvish productions such as Gollum in Lord of the Rings and Leo Bloom in The Producers. His acting was perfect in the role of a nervous, uptight little man whose demeanor helped draw suspicion to him. All the performers had good singing voices, but the best was that of Daren A. Herbert, who played the black janitor who was probably the real culprit of the crime. His song "That's What He Said" which accuses Leo of the crime was powerful, taunting and dramatic.

As described in a pre-show talk, this version of the musical had been abbreviated from its original 3 hour(!) length, cutting out some scenes and characters. Although it made the show duration more manageable, to me it seemed that some of the plotlines felt rushed including the developing relationship between Leo and his wife. Because of this, their love songs lacked the emotional resonance that could have been felt had there been more time to establish these characters.

Parade is playing at the Upstairs Berkeley Street Theatre, which is an intimate little theatre with only 6 rows and about 150 seats. We sat in the front row which put us at floor level, at times about 3 feet away from the action. Sitting so close provides excellent sightlines, which is important for someone of my height, but also leaves very little to the imagination. I was often distracted by the wide open mouths of the singers, the sweat on their brows and spit emitting as they spoke. It also gave a clear view of the actress playing Leo's "young" wife Lucille, whose wrinkles betrayed the inappropriate casting of the role. A 4-man band playing the musical score resided on the right side of the stage, making it hard for the people sitting directly in front of the band to hear the singing. Luckily our seats were well away from the band so we avoided these issues. Given the tiny size of the theatre compared to the large cast of 15 actors (originally 38 in the Broadway production), the sparse sets and imaginative staging of the scenes very effectively conveyed the different locations of the story.

The programme was very interesting, providing the historical facts of this case, photos of the real Leo Frank and Mary Phagan, and a timeline of events. Of particular note was that in 1982, a former office boy of the factory provided an affidavat claiming he saw the janitor carrying Mary's body and in 1986, the Georgia state granted Leo Frank a posthumous pardon.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable show for me but then I like most musicals, so take what I say with a grain of salt. However Rich liked it too, so that counts for something.

Manhattan Transfer Concert at Koerner Hall

Manhattan Transfer, the 70s jazz, swing and R&B band played a Christmas concert at Korener Hall in the Royal Conservatory of Music. The songs ranged from christmas standards such as Sleigh Bells, The Christmas Song, White Christmas, to past greatest hits such as Route 66, Tuxedo Junction and Birdland. Their voices blended beautifully in harmony, throwing in the occasional scat or vocal imitation of instruments.

Korener Hall is a beautiful venue for a concert with great sightlines and excellent acoustics. The music rang out clearly throughout the room, all the way to the back row where we sat. We were first in Koerner Hall a couple of years ago during Nuit Blanche where musicians sat in the rafters and in unison played a single note all night long.

Tirza at TIFF and How We Inadvertently Watched the Santa Claus Parade

Got tickets from a friend to go to the TIFF Bell Lightbox Sunday morning to see a movie that was part of their World Cinema series. You are shown a foreign film that is not announced until you get there, followed by a discussion and Q&A about the movie. Our movie was Tirza, a tense drama about a father searching for his missing daughter that is Netherlands' 2010 submission for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. The movie was full of political messages and symbolism and required you to pay close attention since things are not as they initially seem. This generated very interesting dialogue between the host, the guest film critic and the audience.

To get some exercise, we decided we would try to walk home from King & John St to Yonge & St. Clair. We knew that the Santa Claus parade was happening some time during the day but were not sure of the schedule or the route. We first ran into the parade at Yonge & Queen, in front of The Bay and tried to avoid it by walking through the Eaton Centre. Coming out at the SW corner of Yonge and Dundas, we were met by a mob of people that blocked our path. We considered trying to dash across the parade, but didn't like the prospect of trampling on some little kids just to get mowed down by a bunch of dancing penguins.

In trying to escape the crowds but unable to cross the streets to go in the direction that we wanted, we inadvertently ended up following the entire parade route backwards - west on Dundas to University, north on University to Bloor, and then west on Bloor to Bathurst where the parade started. It actually turned out to be a very efficient and warm way to watch the parade quickly, walking towards the approaching parade rather than standing in the freezing cold waiting for the parade to slowly come to you. We got to the end of the parade just in time to see the big man himself. If you're wondering where Santa Claus lives, I'm convinced it's in Honest Eds. At that point, we were so off course that we gave up on the walk and hopped on the subway, which we were now finally able to reach once the crowds dispersed.

Art Gallery of Ontario Membership

Rich and I became members of the Art Gallery of Ontario at the end of last year since it seemed like the most economical way to see the King Tut exhibit. Having the membership allows us to drop in regularly for a few hours to see the new exhibits, without having to feel like we need to spend the entire day there to make the admission worthwhile. You also get 10% off at the gift shop, the Frank restaurant and the excellent cafeteria in the basement that serves the most delicious soups.

We've taken all the regular guided tours, such as the architectural tour of the newly renovated Frank Gehry design featuring the Galleria Italia, and the tour of the AGO's most prize possessions, highlighted by Ken Thompson's donation of Peter Paul Rubens masterpiece "Massacre of the Innocents" as well as an over-abundance of Krieghoff paintings which all start to look the same after wandering through 4 huge rooms full of them. There are also great "mini-tours" that focus on either the Canadian, African, European or Contemporary collections.

Taking a tour of the Contemporary collection (which changes quite frequently) is the most fun, since you have someone explain to you why you are admiring a pile of rocks or a totally black canvas with a single dot just off centre. We witnessed quite a surreal scene at our visit this weekend. There were a group of "paintings" by Agnes Martin on the wall, each one basically a white canvas with horizontal lines of varying thickness running across them. Seated in folding chairs were a group of art students(?) sketching these paintings. I stared at them, and then back at the paintings for a while wondering if I was missing something. Perhaps they saw something deeper and more meaningful that what I did? Perhaps the point was to imagine what could have been? I sneaked up to one of the sketchers and peeked over his shoulder at his pad, and there was a drawn a rectangle and some carefully shaded horizontal lines. I still don't get it...

Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical

Absolutely loved watching Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the Musical which is playing at the Princess of Wales.

Based on the campy 1994 movie "The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert", the musical is about 3 drag queens (Mitzi/Tick, Bernadette/Ralph and Felicia/Adam) on a road trip through the Outback in Austrailia driving a bus named Priscilla, enroute to meet Tick's son Benjamin. The musical features disco music from the 70s and had too many costume changes to count, each one stunningly colourful, extravagant and outlandish.

Where the movie used songs mainly to show the performances of the drag queens, the musical did a great job of incorporating extra songs to advance the story, picking songs that blended well with the overall genre and era of the rest of the music. The best addition was the tear-inducing Elvis Presley ballad "You were Always On My Mind", sung by Tick to his son Benjie. It perfectly reflected the thoughts and emotions of the character in that moment and was my favourite song of the show. Other songs that made you want to get up and dance included "I Will Survive", "MacArthur Park", "Boogie Wonderland", "It's Raining Men". The entire last song, "Finally" and following bows and encores were performed to a standing ovation.

The musical first premiered appropriately in Austrailia (where the movie is considered a cult classic), then moved to London, and is now showing in Toronto as a warmup for a run on Broadway. It is interesting to note that as the show moved through each continent, the music was changed slightly to reflect the popular music of the new locale. By the time it hit North America, songs by and references to Kylie Minogue were replaced by Madonna.

Some of the scenes and costumes, especially earlier on in the show, might be a bit risque for young children or elderly patrons, but the show is so much fun and full of energy that hopefully no one will mind. It was fun to see people in the audience decked out with souvenir feather boas and martini glasses, both of which were featured prominently in the show. I need to go out and rent the movie again!

Theatre: Forever Plaid at Calvin Presbyterian Church

Watched a stellar performance of the musical Forever Plaid at the Calvin Presbyterian Church, presented as a fund raiser for a new roof for the church. Forever Plaid is about 4 members of a 50s band called "The Plaids" who return from the dead to perform a final show. It featured 3 cast members of the show from the Thousand Islands Playhouse, plus a special guest star from The Jersey Boys playing the 4th member.

The fifth member of the ensemble was the piano player that provided musical accompaniment for songs such as Three Coins in a Fountain, Chain Gang, Sixteen Tons, Day-O and the grand finale Love is a Many Splendored Thing. Audience participation was courted on the songs Matilda, as well as Heart and Soul where they got a woman to play half the tune on the piano. The funniest skit was a fast-paced montage of acts that could be seen on the Ed Sullivan show that involved a slew of props and costume changes.

It was a unique experience to sit in a church pew and watch these talented actors singing and dancing on the altar. The show was modified to fit the limited space, lighting and sound that could be provided within the church.

Eiffel Tower Soup Can Scuplture

This Eiffel tower sculpture made totally out of soup cans and jello boxes was on display in front of the Yonge Eglinton Centre. It was supposed to celebrate the launch of the American Express Gold Rewards card. I could not figure out the relationship between the card and the soup cans, except maybe that after spending on this card, this will be all you can afford to eat??

Anyways, it was an interesting sighting ... hopefully the soup will go to the homeless shelter afterwards.

Nuit Blanche 2010

Nuit Blanche, the all night art exhibition got off to a slow, uninspiring start for us this year. We saw a bunch of exhibits that sounded very lofty and meaningful in the writeups, but just didn't measure up when we saw them, mostly because we didn't understand the point. For example, there was the the big log fire at Yonge Dundas Square as well as a large burning metal acorn at Campbell House. There were the "interactive" lights in the lower Bay subway which didn't really do anything. It was cool to see the secret second subway platform where many movies have been filmed, but not worth the huge lineup. At Atrium on the Bay, we watched either 3 people and a dummy (or 4 people with one in a very suffocating mask who didn't move) sitting around not doing too much while a video screen showed upside down images (intentionally or not??)

From our early viewings, I liked "Smile" - the collage of faces broadcast on the Holt Renfrew building while the jazz song of the title played. Rich liked the visual display on the ROM crystal. I didn't really understand what I was looking at there either, but I find anything displayed on the ROM crystal to be interesting since it is such a unique structure to begin with.

While walking away from the ROM, we came across the ultimate of street foods - a stand selling "Cheese burger Spring rolls" by no less than Chef Susur Lee. Although we're both supposed to be on diets, this was too special an offering to pass by. We rationalized it with the fact that we had been walking around since 1pm that afternoon (having gone to the ROM to see the Terracotta Warriors on free ROM day for AGO members), and would continue to walk until 1am.. that should be worth splitting of a spring roll! And as expected, it was extremely tasty!

Two of my favourite experiences of the night were not even officially part of Nuit Blanche, but just choice to display at the same time to take advantage of the huge crowds passing by, without having to go through the selection process of being chosen for the event.

The first was the art exhibit in the Church of the Redeemer at Bloor and Avenue Road which displayed these beautifully painted spheres with chains attached to them, leading to a series of keys. The balls and chains represented our daily burdens and the message was that we held the key to unlocking them and reviewing the beauty of life - or at least that's what I got out of it.

The second was "Shorts under the Stars" (http://queenstwestbia.ca/shorts-under-the-stars/) where a set of Canadian short films were being shown in the parking lot of the CTV (and new Chum) building at Queen and John Street. The screen was erected underneath the iconic sculpture of the car crashed into the wall. We sat down and watched about 8 of the 12 movies being shown and loved most of them. They ranged from comedy to drama, live action and animation and were all very unique in story, style and tone. We walked in just in time to hear the final line of the film called "Family First" where some dark secret was told to the family at the dinner table and they all sat around stunned and devastated until someone decided that what was told had to be a joke. The two secret tellers looked at each other and decided to lie in order to spare their family.. I never found out what the secret was and it's driving me crazy! Our favourite film was a funny and sexy teenage vampire spoof called "You're so Undead" - a play on the phrase "You're so dead" that teenagers use when they're in trouble with their parents. The final line caused a gasp and burst of laughter. We would have stayed to watch them all except we didn't know how many were left and it was freezing to be sitting still outside at almost midnight.

So we left and got to the Bell Lightbox just in time for the last showing of "clean version" of Singing in the Dark, a sing-a-long to famous movie musicals led by comedian Shawn Hitchins, who was hilarious and a dead ringer for Conan O'Brien, although he claimed he was always mistaken for Tilda Swinton (a joke Conan makes as well). As we all sang lustily to songs like Summer Nights from Grease, Do Re Mi from Sound of Music, Day-O from BeetleJuice and so forth, the host pranced up and down the audience making funny quips, singing at the top of his lungs and passing the microphone around for the audience to sing into.. Luckily we were safely sitting in the middle of a row where he couldn't reach us! People were getting up to dance and act out parts of songs, and then the entire crowd got up to do the Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show. It is not easy to "Jump to the left, and take a step to the right" while standing in a packed theatre.

Then after midnight came a new round of darker movies such as Reservoir Dogs (singing Stuck in the Middle with You while cutting off a guy's ear), Clockwork Orange (singing Singing in the Rain while violently beating up on a couple), and more explicit lyrics (Team America, F**k you, South Park's Blame Canada). The night ended with a rousing rendition of Life of Brian's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. The two sing-a-longs were the highlight of the evening for us. All in all, it turned out to be a good Nuit Blanche year after all.

Bell Lightbox - Essential Cinema Top 100

The Bell Lightbox is a wonderful new addition to Toronto, especially for film buffs like Rich who like the old classics. It has 5 regular movie screening theatres and an entire floor of smaller theatres to be used for educational purposes.

The ground floor is currently hosting an exhibit called "Essential Cinema Top 100 Movies" where the movies were selected in a very unique fashion - TIFF program directors were polled to pick their top 100 films, while at the same time the general public was asked for their picks. The public list is as to be expected with Citizen Kane, Casablanca, etc at the top. The expert list was vastly different with Citizen Cane being #15 and most of the 14 previous movies were ones I've never heard of before! The two lists were combined to form the Essential Cinema Top 100, and the Bell Lightbox is showing all of them between September and December. Some will have special commentaries before or after the film and some of the silent films will be accompanied by live musicians. The exhibit, which is on display until Oct 23, 2010, has movie posters and other memorabilia from the 100 movies. There are also selected videos, movie artifacts such as Darth Vadar's helmet and the dresses from the Leopard and some other movie, the model ship from Videodrome, toy tank from Life is Beautiful, etc. Iconic soundclips from movies such as Jaws and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly play occasionally.

As one of the free events for Cultures weekend (Sept 25/26), there was a showing of the 1924 Buster Keaton silent film called Sherlock Jr, about a young film projection operator who wants to be a detective. While courting his girlfriend, he is framed for a burglary by a rival suitor and is unable to solve the case since he is a bungling inept dectective. Back at his real job, he shows a movie about Sherlock Holmes and dreams himself into the role. There was a 6 piece live band who composed a brand new modernized score and played it in time with the movie. It was rather surreal to watch, since we were watching a movie with a live band, that depicted the showing of a movie with a live band.

In addition to the Essential Cinema series, upcoming showings at the Bell Lightbox include a Tim Burton festival and a special Halloween series of movie showings. For Nuit Blanche, they held sing-a-long movie clips all night. There are several hot new eating spots within the Lightbox including The Canteen for casual dining/quick meals and Luma for more upscale dining. The Bell Lightbox is quickly establishing itself as a happening place in Toronto and will probably be the new central location for future Film Festivals.

The Ultimate Jane Walk to Jane Jacob's Annex Neighbourhood

Participated in what I thought was the ultimate in this year's Jane's Walk offerings - a tour of the annex where Jane Jacobs lived. Since I grew up in the annex, it was a bit of a homecoming for me too. Started in 2007 as the perfect tribute to this iconic woman, Jane's walks are led by local tour guides through neighbourhoods across Toronto and other Canadian, US and international cities.

We learned to look out for buildings of red brick from the Don Valley Brickworks and turrets that are scattered through the Annex. We were shown beautiful churches which have now been re-purposed into other uses such as theatres, schools and multi-dwelling units. And the grand finale of the walk took us to view a small, hidden and extremely innocuous plaque in tribute of Jane, and then finally her house. Along the way, we were given some insight into this amazing woman, her passionate personality, and her fight to stop the Spadina expressway.